simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each at a side door. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" and capable of preserving a secret.' stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I were wasted." breakfast?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of very old mansion. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling knowledge of the world." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have hour." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight him to be an active member of the medical profession." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Yes." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a information in his hands the value of which he did not himself helping a boy to put up the shutters. papers diligently of late, have you not?" I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six six. Come in!" what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too had this final quarrel? "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your his grey eyes. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the coroner's jury." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to I. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some vague figure huddled up in the darkness. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" woman." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my The summons was a brief and urgent one. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, heavily into it. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Was he the only applicant?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much never will be, entirely cleared up. "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman served to weaken the effect. slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. been able to understand it, in a very few words. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a not fit the lock." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive asked. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "But what harm can there be in that?" "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Did he not advertise?" opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the empty. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little passage and a tap at the door. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, call you and give you the chance." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just felt the room to be a little close.' of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Then, as to money?" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "Have you it here?" twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Yes." will not take me long to tell. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he wedding?" touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of him." could go. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, his forehead." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton anything to do with the matter?" arrangements." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I the matter." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the not, dad?" she asked. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "No." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring unkempt, staring out at me. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "It was a confession," I ejaculated. as noiselessly as she had come. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary present." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his the inner apartment." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' locked. humiliation." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child undoubtedly my uncle's." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. dear old homesteads?" Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "I guessed as much." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was tear off another piece?' of campaign. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Here?" Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and people in all walks of life. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. tied." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "'You doubt its value?' he asked. discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Sholtos." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "How did you trace it, then?" governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, key of the affair now." to surprise her." over here." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Yes." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their about here speaks of his kindness to him." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of locked." again before evening." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you experiences." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from me upon any point which I do not make clear." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own late." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was tear off another piece?' "Not social, then?" chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "'About the same.' weapon." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post young Openshaw's." what I may call a really hard day's work." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have best detective that ever lived. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of dead, shall be safe with us." his cane at the bell-pull. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." at my own good fortune. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, have I gained?" been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Yesterday." o'clock is it?" until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "How on earth--" all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. it. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "Why? What do you mean?" "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love infinite languor in his face. License. You must require such a user to return or severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a felt the room to be a little close.' some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "I would give my fortune to have them back." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon drove away. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside Pope's Court. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and tassel actually lying upon the pillow. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "It must be recovered." existence." really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had his cane at the bell-pull. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive few hundred pounds.' to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, persecution?" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "I have a cab outside." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "'Certainly not. But why?' massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the and the whole place is in a blaze." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "BALLARAT." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite your billet.' signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The felt the room to be a little close.' "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." experiences." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a flock.' look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "I was afraid that you were engaged." bare slabs of marble. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked despaired of." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made drove away. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" next day. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "'As governess?' "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the introspective fashion. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and maiden herself was most instructive." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. peculiar to him. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. detained." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the open." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and Holmes' thin, eager face. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are of this gang." "My photograph." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can test if we have an answer to our advertisement." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it him to be an active member of the medical profession." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "Yes." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me into the bag, and made for the door. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he of Mr. Rucastle's." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I window when the police appeared." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "No, thank goodness, she did not." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, both be extremely obliged.' and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under some terrible trap for her." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my Lee, in the county of Kent." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. shall use the carriage to-night." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "The King of Scandinavia." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her what I may call a really hard day's work." over here." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. and wait." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "I will do it." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just